On Thursday, March 30, the YPP and the Arab Center for the Promotion of Human Rights hosted an event at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, to discuss the war in Yemen and the role of the United States in the conflict. Events like this are not officially sponsored by members of the US Senate, but are often referred to as "Senate briefings" because they are held primarily for the benefit of Senate staffers. The event was attended by congressional staff, representatives from NGOs, and members of the public. The discussion was moderated by YPP executive director Will Picard, and featured two guest speakers:

Radhya Almutawakel is the president of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights, an independent Yemeni organization working to defend and protect human rights in Yemen. Mwatana works on war crimes, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearance, and freedom of press throughout Yemen.

Sama’a Al-Hamdani is the founder of Yemeniaty, an independent organization working to promote better relations and understanding between Yemenis, policymakers, and relevant stakeholders in the United States. Al-Hamdani is an independent Yemeni writer, researcher and analyst focusing on Yemeni politics and women affairs. She is also currently a fellow with the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies.

Below is an undedited audio recording of the entire event. Please forgive the poor sound quality; we're working on a better version, and will update this post when possible.

Welcome to the long-awaited fourth season of Mafraj Radio, the official podcast of the Yemen Peace Project. I’m Will Picard. On this episode we’ll discuss America’s role in Yemen’s civil war, and the Trump administration’s efforts to block citizens of Yemen and five other nations from entering the United States. And we’ll meet one of the many Yemeni immigrants who call America home.

We’ve asked contributors in Yemen to record audio journal entries for us, conveying their own personal experience of Yemen’s ongoing war. Our first two installment featured recordings by an anonymous civil servant living in San’a. That same contributor offers the following reflections on how Yemen’s war has pushed millions of Yemenis into deep poverty, and even starvation. podcast@yemenpeaceproject.org.

This episode includes the first two installments in a new recurring feature we're calling the Wartime Journal. We’ve asked contributors in different parts of Yemen to record audio journal entries for us, conveying their own personal experience of Yemen’s ongoing war. Our first journal entry comes from Yemen’s capital, San’a. It was recorded by a young government employee, who chooses not to use her name for fear of retaliation. This contributor provides a remarkable perspective on life in wartime San’a, and gives us a glimpse into the dysfunction of Yemen’s central government under the control of Ansar Allah, or the Houthi movement.

On this episode of Mafraj Radio, we meet Tair, Liron, and Tagel Haim, three Israeli sisters from a Yemeni Jewish family, who perform Yemenite folk music with a modern twist. Their band, A-WA, released their first video online last year, and have found eager audiences throughout Europe and the US, as well as at home in Israel.

On this episode, YPP's Hannah Porter speaks with UNOCHA's Jamie McGoldrick about the coordinated response to Yemen's humanitarian catastrophe, and we learn about how Yemeni coffee could play a role in the country’s economic recovery.

On this episode we learn about the UNDP's innovative new model for development in Yemen from project specialist Farah Abdessamad, and speak with journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi about last month's peace talks in Switzerland.

On this episode we speak with Sahar Nuraddin, a local humanitarian aid worker in Aden, about how life in the southern port city has changed since Coalition and Resistance forces drove pro-Houthi forces out. We also take a look at the horrific situation in the central highland city of Taiz, where pro-Houthi forces are maintaining an illegal siege, making life almost impossible for local civilians.